Fantasy Football: 5 Must Start Players Week 1

S. Bradford
Facing off against the Falcons in what should be the highest scoring festival this weekend. This will be the first look at the Eagle’s offense running at full speed and this seems to be the perfect recipe for an explosive outing. He’s not being as highly touted as QBs like Rodgers, Brady, or Romo this week but he’ll put up numbers to compete with them and I think will be the #1 QB this weekend in what projects to be the highest scoring game. The Eagles have been firing out of the gate and that was with their back-ups playing most of the game. Expect a fast start for them and for Chip not to let off the gas. We’ll see what his offense can do with a real QB this week.

J. Stewart
Carolina’s loss of Benjamin for the season could be a boon for Stewart and likely is in the season opener against the Jags. The Panthers will be looking to take some of the pressure off rookie Funchess, the Panthers project to rely heavily on their running game in the season opener against a defense that struggled against the run last season. With Williams’s departure, Stewart looks to be in a bell-cow role for the first time in a long while for Carolina and will have full opportunity to take advantage of.

N. Agholor
Hiding in Matthews shadow, Agholor is in excellent position to post WR1 numbers this week. As I mentioned above Philly hasn’t skipped a beat in the preseason and looks to be in stride for the season opener. Agholor specifically has shown repoir with Bradford during their limited snaps together during the preseason. Agholor is in the role that Maclin and Jackson had career years in the past two seasons and he’s going up against a very porous passing defense that will probably be paying more attention to Matthews than to Agholor.

Larry Donnell
The Giants and Cowboys will likely be the second highest combined scoring game this weekend. With both teams having prolific offenses that haven't been bothered by their division rival's defense in recent outings. That said with Rashad Jennings, Odell Beckham Jr, and Victor Cruz, the Giants don't really have a stand out Endzone target outside of the one they developed in Donnell last season.
While Donnell only saw 15% of the teams targets in 2014, he saw 25% of the team's targets within 10 yards of the endzone, which was good for 5TDs. The Giants project to reach the Cowboys Redzone a ton this game which means plenty of opportunity for Donnell to produce. He's a great stream option if your choice at TE is looking at a poor match up or you had drafted J. Thomas or Ertz prior to injury.


NYJ Def
The Jets defense is an interesting consideration. Gone is defensive guru Rex, but they’ve added significant talent at corner and combined with their already destructive front seven and the defense projects to being a force. Their first test is up against the Browns, a disaster of a franchise with two horrid options at QB. Expect the Jets to try and ground and pound on offense which should limit the amount their defense is on the field. I expect a low scoring affair between the Browns and Jets and see the Jets coming away with over one turnover and a few sacks. It’s not the sexiest option, but they get a bonus due to having a trio of streamable games afterwards which means getting them this week means you’ve got a streamable defense for the first quarter of the season.